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Jun 4, 2018

Debate Heats up in Iran over Leaving the Nuclear Deal

By Farhad Rezaei

Since President Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the Iran nuclear agreement on May 8, political debates in Tehran over leaving or remaining a party to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) have become increasingly tense. The twelve steep demands outlined by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on May 21 as supposed ingredients for […]

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May 31, 2018

‘Futsal’ and the Politics of Women’s Sports in Iran

By Tahereh Hadian-Jazy

Iranian women have excelled in the sport of “futsal,” a variation of soccer played on a smaller, hard court. The Iranian team in May 2018 reconfirmed its top position in Asian futsal, winning the championship match 5-2 over Japan with a dazzling five goals in the second half. Success in the sport has brought pride […]

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May 30, 2018

Great Power Competition in Iran as the US Exits the Arena

By Ali Scotten

US President Donald Trump’s decision to abandon the Iran nuclear deal, and thus re-impose broad sanctions against the Islamic Republic, sends a clear signal that Washington has reverted to a full containment policy against Tehran. But, lacking a clear overarching Middle East strategy, US policymakers do not appear to be weighing the merits of this […]

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May 24, 2018

Lebanon’s Elections: Hezbollah in the Driver’s Seat?

By Mona Alami

Hezbollah’s emergence as the strongest political faction during the Lebanese May elections confirms Iran’s sway over Lebanon, with the party now capable of securing an unchallenged veto at the parliamentary level and an absolute majority if it secures the right alliances. The recent electoral results also underline Hezbollah’s continued grip over its community despite ongoing […]

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May 24, 2018

Trump’s Plan B for Iran

By Matthew Kroenig

Several years ago, Henry Kissinger famously stated that Iran must decide if it wants to be a country or a cause. On May 21, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo re-articulated this question, offering Iran a sharp choice: to be welcomed back into the community of nations if it abandons its destabilizing security policies or […]

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May 22, 2018

Iran’s Hijab Protests Are a Middle Class Phenomenon

By Tahereh Hadian-Jazy

The day before widespread protests broke out in Iran last December, Vida Movahed, 31, stood on a utility box in Tehran, took off her white headscarf and waved it before a crowd. In the weeks since then, dozens of other women have done the same, earning the nickname the “Women of Enghelab [Revolution] Street.” Their acts of […]

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May 21, 2018

Can the European Union’s Sanctions Blocking Regulation Save the Iran Nuclear Deal?

By Brian O’Toole

The European Union (EU) on May 18 announced that it was beginning the process to activate its proposed blocking regulation, initially proposed in 1996 to try to counteract what the EU saw as the extraterritorial reach under the United States’ Iran-Libya Sanctions Act (ILSA) and Cuba sanctions program. Those disagreements were settled politically with the […]

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May 21, 2018

Pompeo’s ‘Plan B’ on Iran: Accurate Diagnosis, Inadequate Cure

By Barbara Slavin

In an audacious speech before the Heritage Foundation on May 21, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo outlined a litany of complaints about the nuclear deal with Iran that accurately reflected some of its gaps, but offered no realistic remedies. Pompeo’s prescription to achieve his “Plan B”—“unprecedented financial pressure on the Iranian regime”—is unlikely to […]

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May 21, 2018

Dropping the Hammer

By Brian O’Toole

The Trump administration, acting through Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), has wasted no time in setting a harried pace of Iran-related designations to up the pressure after the president announced the US withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on May 8. In the seven business days following that fateful […]

Iran

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May 21, 2018

The Regional Consequences of Trump’s Decision to Ditch the Iran Nuclear Deal

By Rachel Ansley

Though Iran has thus far remained in compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the US decision to withdraw from the nuclear deal could be the first domino to fall, setting off a chain of escalatory events throughout the region.  “This change is US policy is happening at a time when the region […]

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